Sony NWZ-F806 mini review (& F-series player reviews / impressions / discussion) - Page 57

Doesn't seem to feel like metal to me at all. Both the top strip and the overall body feel the exact same. Many microscratchs too compared to black; might just be I don't know the difference between how they built the black model and how they built the white model because the white model I have is glossy and has like glitter in it while the blue and pink and black models seem to be matte.
Edited by AyeVeeN - 11/16/12 at 11:18pm

i had heard that too before. i don't mind paying a premium for a device without any limits or restrictions. plus the japanese versions support atrac, which for me is ideal for gapless.

 

I can garanty you mine is metal. Pretty cold here and the back feels that way, whereas the plastic section feel definitively less so. I also managed to drop the player (not sure when) and the paint is going off on top corner, showing the shiny metal below...

From what I've read on other sites, the white one is indeed metal also (except the top strip). The difference you are feeling is due to the glossy paint covering the metal; other versions are anodized I believe. The paint is what's making it feel less cool to the touch and less metal like. Try putting it in a really cold place and touch the back again, it should feel cooler than the top part. 

You are right glo, is metal & you should get a casing for it mate.
White & gun metal has the same powder coating finishing.

so anything other than white and gun metal have non metal finishes?

Thank you for this good review! 

 

I have a question, the F serie could manage podcast as X serie? I want to by it but there is no information about podcasts. 

 

Thank you for your response!

 

BR

what does airplane mode do? lol... im a noob with these tech-y things...

 

 

 

which model of the F did we get from you, bro? US or JP?

Edited by Dyaems - 11/18/12 at 4:35pm

I have had the Sony F806 for about 2 weeks now and got few weeks to listen to it and do some A-B comparison with Sony X.  What i am writing is just how i find the F806 and i don't claim be an audiophile  or with golden ears. I love the sound of Sony X and i am expecting Sony F to be better .. Let's see if that really is the case . . 

 

The gear : Sony F806/Sony X - ALO Audio LOD - Pico Slim - Westone ES5 

 

Sound : 

Test Cases : 

1) Sony X Vs Sony  F806 - Headphone out :  At first glance Sony F seems to blow Sony X out of the water with the sound clarity , depth and soundstage ..Sony F sound definitely louder than Sony X. However after listening for a while then difference becomes just subtle .. The Sony X seems bit warm and Sony F seems more digital . Not sure which sound i prefer. I love Sony X so just with headphone out i would not pick Sony F .. It gets fatiguing after a while .. Also ES5 hiss like crazy on Sony F806.. Another issue i found that with Sony F is that sound levels change album to album was way noticeable .. I was adjusting volume control all the time..

 

2) Sony X with Pico slim Vs Sony F 806 Headphone out : This is unfair comparison but wanted to test it as many said headphone out is way better .. IMO Sony X with an amp is much better than Sony F806 with headphone out. The soundstage, depth and clarity is wider on Sony X with amp than Sony F806. So if i was upgrading to Sony F without amp i would stick with Sony X

 

3) Sony X and Sony F with Pico slim : This is where Sony F really shines .. There is a transformation of sound.. The soundstage is wide, clarity is awesome and bass is deep without being muddy .. It is not heavy but sufficient for me .. Better than Sony X. Also hiss is gone with the amp . Also with third party software like Poweramp it takes sound to another level .. With an amp i will definitely pick Sony F over Sony X .. No question

 

Size and Features:

 

1) Sony X has an ideal size for a music player .. Not too small not too big. Also it blends really well with pico slim .. bit thicker than pack of cigarettes . Sony F is larger and size but it is no use for me as i will not use it to watch movies, play games or browse web. This is just personal preference YMMV. 

2) Love the physical buttons for player control on Sony X. I can pause , FF or Rewind music without looking .. This is very helpful when listening in dark or when sleeping on planes .. Also i love the indexed search feature on X and Sony X is not that touch sensitive. Sony F lack the physical controls and screen is sensitive everytime i grip it either it changes the song or FF it. Really frustrating . Also Hold feature is lacking. I guess toggling power switch is a kind of hold function.. . Also the walkman button on side is a gimmick .. You can only go to next song or previous song but not FF or RR .. 

3) Love the simplicity of the GUI on Sony X.. It looks like Sony F has few too many steps just to get to music functions like albums artists or playlists .. This has nothing to do with it being a touch screen UI .. It is badly implemented.

4) Transfer software : With Sony X i could use WMP for everything Album art, transfer and playlists . With Sony F i can transfer playlist using media go application only not WMP .. Also some album art didn't get transferred and i had to redo it . So it is a step backwards.

5) Battery Life : Battery life on Sony F is bad .. It is not closer to what i get on Sony X. If i keep wireless on it get drained very fast.. With Wireless off i am getting about 12 hrs max .. With SonyX i have managed to get about 20Hrs .. 

 

Music player software 

 

1) Stock player : It is decent and sounds good .. Playlists need to be transferred using Media go player but it lacks the Oomph .. User navigation is bit cumbersome and some ID tags needs re configuring . No gapless, No on the go playlist or crossfade

2) Cubed : It is good replacement to the stock player. Very simple and player sounds better than stock player. The equalizer is pretty decent .. But it lacks features . Also the "on the go"playlist feature is basic

3) Poweramp: This is my favorite player so far .. It has numerous cutsomizable options to tune the sound to your needs. Playlists and album art transfer correctly and it sounds so good with the amp .. I am hearing sounds i never heard before on Sony X with amp .. It is that good. Also it supports gapless .. Listening to Pink Floyd "Animals" after longtime gapless brought back the chills :). It also supports "On the go" Playlists which i like and cross fade is well implemented . I would definitely recommend this. However i have the free version and it crashes a lot .. But it is a small price to pay for good sound 

 

Conclusion: Sony F is definitely a better replacement to Sony X when amped with a decent amp. If using just the headphone they both are equal in thier own rights . Sony F provides rich detail , extended soundstage and deep bass . It is definite upgrade over Sony X with amp .. I would highly recommend it 

 

Few questions:  Poweramp: I have the free version.. What does the paid version provide.. can someone help ?

 

Once again i have to reiterate this is just my opinion on Sony F and your views may vary .. 

 

Thanks for reading 

PC 

Edited by animalsrush - 11/18/12 at 4:47pm

 

all for japan market. airplane mode means you can fly

 

 

moar neverending questions lol

 

1. does airplane mode saves more battery?

2. does F supports gapless for flac (sorry if this has been answered before)

3. anyone noticing a very short pause and then it resumes playing with their F? it happened to me a few times on random songs, and if i tried playing the same song again the problem is not there, so it is not on the song itself i guess.

It depends on your podcast format. If your podcasts are simply MP3 files or similar with ID3 tag information, the default Walkman player will automatically sort them into an album in the library, or under an artist, for instance.
Otherwise, if you have some unusual podcast format, check the Google Play store, it is likely to have a podcast management app of some type.

In an airplane, you are normally required to turn off all devices with celluar transmitters or wireless communications as it may disrupt the airplane's avionics (the systems that allow it to fly properly and stay on course), so modern smartphones have an 'airplane mode' designed to allow you to continue using the device as normal but with no celluar networking (i.e. you can't make calls etc.). In the F806's case it disables Bluetooth and WiFi completely unless you manually enable them again.
You can do it to cell phones too.
1. In essence it is the same as turning off all the wireless radios on the F806. So, yes, it saves battery, but I expect you will see minor improvements, if any at all, if you are the type to prudently disable WiFi and Bluetooth when leaving your networks.
2. Sony appears to only officially support PCM gapless, or ATRAC gapless (on Japanese models). However third party players, as usual, have support.
3. It is likely to do with the F80x's series rather poor memory subsystems - it only has 512MB of RAM so it is constantly reloading items (which is why you might have your home screen redrawing all of the widgets again frequently, if you're like me), while its flash storage memory subsystem is not exactly a blazing fast one. The stutters you are seeing is are likely the player taking a moment to kill some background processes and load the new song into RAM from its flash memory. If you can reliably reproduce this 'problem' by doing several other tasks then launching a new song, then my theory is correct.
Alternatively, if you have enabled a larger audio buffer in Poweramp, that is the reason. The larger audio buffer in Poweramp introduces an associated delay (e.g. +150ms means a 0.15s delay in playing and stopping).

The paid version gives you an Unlocker, which enables your trial version to last forever - the trial version only lasts one week, after which you can no longer use the player if you restart your device. Otherwise, there are no extra features in the paid version, but if you really like Poweramp you're probably not going to find it a waste of money. You can artificially prolong your trial indefinitely by never closing the Poweramp player after the trial period ends (at which point it will prompt you to buy the app every time you open it again, but will not lock you out), but if any thing actually closes the app or you restart your device, Poweramp will lock you out until it detects the Unlocker on your device.
Also, you say it keeps crashing? I find this to happen every now and then when accessing folders or albums in Poweramp. This is likely to do with the way the F80x handles its memory, since it only has 512MB of RAM (about 100MB of which users can play with), it is rather aggressive with its memory management, to the point of even terminating your media player while you're using it.
Edited by salanos - 11/18/12 at 10:52pm

acually the player is just on and running, no other apps installed or running, no widgets except a wallpaper, and the screen is off. the stutter just happens randomly.

 

i dont like to install any other apps with the F, my phone should do that instead :P

Edited by Dyaems - 11/18/12 at 10:48pm